Ottawa, ON – After nine years, the NDP-Liberal Government has made housing unaffordable for Canadians. Justin Trudeau has failed to build enough homes for Canadians, causing the cost of downpayments, mortgage payments and rent to double.
Today, Rentals.ca published their national rent report, which showed the consequences of Trudeau’s failure. Canada’s average asking rent reached a record high of $2,193 in September. On top of this, the cost of rent is 13.4 percent higher than it was two years ago and 25.2 percent higher than it was three years ago. This means that the cost of rent has massively outpaced Canadians’ paycheques.
The situation is even bleaker in Canada’s largest cities. In Vancouver, the average asking rent for all unit types reached $3,023, while Canadians are having to pay $2,668 in Toronto. With rent costing as much as it does, many Canadians have to live in shared accommodation. But this too has become unaffordable, averaging $1,009 in September, which is an annual increase of 6.9 percent.
Justin Trudeau has promised to fix the housing hell he created by building more homes. But the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has been clear that the number of new homes being built “isn’t enough to reduce the existing supply gap and improve affordability for Canadians.”
Housing will remain unaffordable so long as the NDP-Liberal government refuses to fire the gatekeepers and reduce the regulatory burden on new construction. But Trudeau has refused to do this. Instead, he has given millions to local government gatekeepers who immediately raise development taxes. In Toronto, they raised their taxes by more than $20,000 and in Vaughan, less than a year after receiving $59 million from Trudeau to reduce red tape, the gatekeepers increased development charges by 17.5 percent.
The NDP-Liberal Government is not worth the cost. Only a Common Sense Conservative government will build homes Canadians can afford by firing the gatekeepers and tying federal infrastructure money to housing completion.